Today I heard a story on NPR about a new “superbug” that caused ear infections in children that were resistant to all currently recommended antibiotics used to treat this infection. This reminded me that antibiotics are being over used. This is, in part, due to physicians who aren’t being careful enough to use them only when clinically indicated and, in part, due to patients who request (or demand) antibiotic treatment for what is most likely a viral upper respiratory infection. Antibiotics cause resistant strains of bacteria to emerge by killing off strains that are susceptible, thereby allowing resistant bugs that emerge over time to proliferate.
So, health care providers, please resist the use of antibiotics unless they are truly needed and patients be a little more reticent to take antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection, since over 90% of them are viral and, thus, don’t respond to antibiotic treatment.
This is one way to be an “e patient”, knowledgeable, empowered, and taking control of your own health care!
Your comments are always welcome…
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Charlie. When my daughter Sophia was alive (she passed away two years ago at age four from a rare, genetic metabolic condition), we rarely used conventional antibiotics to treat her chronic ear infections because they killed off not only the “bad” bacteria, but also the “good” bacteria in her system.
After western antibiotic ear drops failed to clear up a repeated ear infection when she was six months old, we administered oral antibiotics which cleared up the infection, but caused a vaginal yeast infection. When the ear infection reappeared two weeks later, we started a daily regimen of ear oil to prevent this recurring condition. The ear oil was Oregon’s Wild Harvest which contained “fresh organic garlic bulb, fresh st. Johns wort flower buds, mullein flowers in a base of organic unrefined olive oil, natural vitamin e oil and organic grapefruit seed extract.”
This prophylactic was one among many that stimulated her immune system and curbed infections throughout her life. It also gave rise to one of Sophia’s pet names, “my sweet loaf of garlic bread.”
I totally agree. The antibiotics are overused today and it should be solved.
Last year , my dentist prescribed me antibiotics and then I was forced to take a cure of vitamins and supplements to “restore” myself, if it is correct said.
And ,first of all,I think we have to get accustomed to the information about one or another antibiotic that is prescribed to us.It is really important because of serious side effects.
What to say.. It is really a problem today. Antibiotics can easily harm the organism, that is why we should be aware of their mode of administration.
To my mind, antibiotics should be prescribed only in difficult cases, when other medications do not help.
Greetings,
With the new Super Bug, hospitals and other healthcare institutions need to find ways to reduce the spread of this virus. See attached link for a possible solution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzsjL3lfpU
Thanks!